Golf is an outdoor sport played by many individuals for recreational and competitive purposes on golf courses throughout the world. The golf game is played with a small ball that is struck by a club. Each golfer uses a set of clubs while playing golf where the set includes at least a driver, woods, irons and a putter. The golf club is comprised of three basic components, the grip, the shaft and the head. The head portion strikes the ball and accordingly the grip is the portion of the club that is held by the golfer's hand and the shaft extends between the head and the grip. The different clubs are used at different distances and depending on the lie of the ball on the golf course. A putter is used exclusively on or near the greens for putting a ball short distances to the hole. Irons vary in shaft length and loft angle and thus vary in distance that may be achieved with each club. Higher irons are used for shorter distances and lower irons are typically used for longer distances. If a golfer is a significant amount of distance from a hole a golfer may choose to use a fairway wood, which has a larger head. The one distinction between the iron and the wood club is particularly the head size and shape. Irons are angled from about 16 to 48 degrees with a sloping hitting surface. The angle and sloping surface enable the golfer to manipulate the distance and lift of the golf ball when striking it. The heads of the iron are usually made of steel or some other metal and forged by hammering hot metal under great pressure. A typical iron has a shorter shaft as compared to a wood because the iron is used for shorter distances and therefore less energy is transferred with a shorter shaft as opposed to the longer shaft of the typical wood.
A wood club has a larger head than an iron and most are designed to typically send the ball 200 yards or more. In general the driver is typically the largest wood in a set of clubs. The driver is used by a golfer to hit a ball off of a tee at the beginning of a hole. The shaft of the wood club is generally considerably longer than the irons. The greater length of the wood clubs increases the power transferred to the ball. However the club driver can be more difficult to swing because of an increased likelihood that the wood club does not hit the ball with the designated sweet spot of the wood club. The wood club's sweet spot is generally positioned in the middle of the club face. The sweet spot is generally the optimum position to strike the ball with the wood club.
Various designers have used different techniques to improve the likelihood of a golfer hitting the sweet spot when swinging a driver. Heavier club heads were used to resist twisting. Use of different weight techniques such as a center weighting or perimeter weighting of the wood club head have also been used to assist the golfer in achieving a more perfect swing. In general, a lighter head can be swung at a greater speed and may generate more energy to transfer the ball. However the golfer must be careful to maintain the club in a straight position when striking the ball. Many drivers have a large head and many with modern designed drivers have exaggerated large heads that are made of steel, titanium, bronze or other metals. The driver head shape allows the head to glide over the grass and ground rather than digging into the turf. Most initial drives at the beginning of a hole are made with a tee that is used to elevate the ball above the ground level.
A third type of club has been developed over the recent years to assist golfers in replacing some of the longer irons that are typically difficult to consistently hit with accuracy. Golf designers have determined that many irons with about a 24-degree loft or less and about a 38 inch length or greater may be difficult to hit consistently by the average golfer. This generally equates to any iron longer than about a five iron. Hybrid golf clubs have been developed to replace the two, three, four irons to provide the golfer with a more reliable club to hit as opposed to the two, three, four irons. The typical hybrid club combines elements of iron and woods, which may help the golfer utilize these features to strike balls on the fairway that would otherwise be struck with a two, three or four iron. Consequently, hybrid clubs that are currently on the market are designed for striking the ball on the fairway during a shot after the tee shot.
There still remains a need to assist a golfer with their drive or their initial tee shot. As discussed above, various designs of wood clubs used for driving have been implemented. However, a hybrid club for driving remains non-existent for the golfer. Many golfers may be able to utilize a hybrid head for a driver that lightens the weight of the head and therefore provides an opportunity for the golfer to transfer more energy in the swing when driving a ball off the tee. The present hybrid clubs on the market again are used to replace irons therefore the loft angles associated with the hybrid club are usually above about 15 degrees, particularly because the hybrid club is used as a replacement club for irons as opposed to a replacement for a driver. Accordingly, alternative hybrid golf clubs may be desired.